Art Journal Journey - A Bit of Fun for Type

This is the last day for my theme of "Type" at Art Journal Journey and so I thought I would end with a bit of fun - or you may think of it as nonsense.  I have just got these frog images from Janet Klein because I fell in love with some of the samples that were shown on the television.  I thought I would buy them to use for birthday cards for both young and old, male and female.  Not only that, though - I thought maybe I could do a small journal page using all the three frogs in the set.  They look so sad - and I am sad my time has come to an end as guest designer.

I would like to first of all thank Elizabeth and Bleubeard for inviting me to do this spot, I have so enjoyed myself thinking up how to use the word "type" in different ways.  Elizabeth you have been great taking the time to answer my questions and to listen to my thoughts.  The Design Team, Valerie, Erika, Elizabeth, Yvonne and Chris have really helped me along with all the journalling they have done.  I must admit when I first thought of it I homed in on typewriters and went on to think of lettering, printing machines and the suchlike.  Then when it came to having to produce a substantial number of posts I began to panic.

I had no need to panic as you all, the wonderful 'journallers', helped me along the way with your interpretations of the word, and before I knew what was happening I had all kinds of ideas running through my head.  Way too many.

So a big thank you to all of you who have joined in and a big thank you to those who commented on my own journal pages.  It meant a lot.  So here you have it, my 'goodbye for now page' for "Type" at Art Journal Journey - a type of cartoon frog!  

PS no doubt see you soon - as soon as I know what the next theme will be at Art Journal Journey.

Art Journal Journey - Type of Film Star

I've saved this journal page until today, because today would have been my dad's birthday.  He loved Laurel and Hardy and I can see him now, sitting laughing at their antics on the television screen.  This was one of my favourite pages when I made some in readiness for my stint as Guest Designer at Art Journal Journey (thanks Elizabeth and Bleubeard for the invite, I have so enjoyed myself).  I wanted to post it earlier but kept thinking of dad each time I looked at it.  So dad, it's in memory of you as well as being my page today for the theme "Type".

To begin with I painted my page green, adding some darker green through a stencil.  Then I used an Aall & Create stencil by Abs to add the stars with some crackle paste, I love how the tiny stars come up so well.

Drawing through the stencil I made copies of the stars down the left hand side and cut them out and wrote on them "My Type of Movie Star".  Next I used a typewriter die, sent to me by my bff, and I typed on a piece of paper the quote most associated with these two and inserted it in the typewriter with the bail bar over the top.

The two figures of Laurel and Hardy are from a stamp collection by Janet Klein for Aall & Create, Stan Laurel, who hails not far from us, stood perfectly on the paper release lever but where could I put Oliver Hardy?  He needed to rest somewhere with his arm on something.

I was certain I had a die for cutting a film strip and sure enough I found it and had space for three film stars and so I began looking on the internet for female stars of that era.  I did not make a note of who they were so the top one escapes me but I know the next one is Bette Davis and the bottom one Greta Garbo.  Obviously they had to be printed in black and white and Oliver Hardy stood perfectly on top of the film strip whilst resting his arm on the typewriter.

The final things was to put a wiggly line around the whole page but I still felt there was something missing and so I went around the large stars with a black pen and then the figures too.  That finished it off.

So here you have it, my page for my theme at Art Journal Journey, there are still two days to enter so will I see you there?

Art Journal Journey - The Bee (and another)

When I was hastily doing research for my theme of 'type' at Art Journal Journey I saw a fabulous layout in an old Art Journal magazine.  It had been done by Carissa Paige, and I wanted to do something similar so here is my take on it, nowhere near as good as the original but then I don't want an exact copy.  That's my excuse LOL.

To begin with I had to find a print of a typewriter.  Lots about but copyright and things like that plus most of them are black and white and I wanted a coloured one.  Eventually I settled for this blue one which looks rather upmarket so I printed it out and set about cutting it out.  Very carefully I slit above and below the bail bar (at least I think that is what it is called, it's the bit that holds the paper in place) so that I could insert my paper in my typewriter correctly.  (You will perhaps notice my carriage return lever has fallen off, or it got cut off by mistake.)

The page itself was coloured firstly with Distress Inks - Squeezed Lemonade and Scattered Straw down the left hand side and Twisted Citron and Shabby Shutters down the right hand side, with both of them used more randomly at the bottom.  I chose my favourite Tim Holtz stencil on the left side and a circular one on the right.  A leaf stencil by Lavinia was my choice for the piece of paper with the Bee on - the bee is a favourite of mine but I have not a clue who manufactured it.

Then I chose a stamp from Dylusions to give the border across the top - it is something to do with Journaling (my poor old eyes cannot make it out nowadays), and I tore a couple of strips of patterned paper for the base, going over them with Twisted Citron to match in with the page.  The bee was stamped, centre stage on the paper.

Finally I wrote the words across the bottom following the curve of the tear in the paper "be industrious like the Bee - Write your own story" and finished it off underneath with my interpretation of the flight of the bumblebee.

But I have another page for you as well.  I so intended to devote a page to printing and my friend had given me some Ikea cards that had lots of letters and numbers on them that reminded me of typesetting.  I'd also found a picture of Caxton and his printing press that I intended to use and a picture of the cover of a book about Guttenberg.

We have Johannes Gutenberg, who in 1440 is credited with the inventing the first ever printing press modelled on the design of existing screw presses.  He invented the hand mould and the printing press which reduced the cost of printing book drastically throughout Europe.

In 1476 William Caxton is thought to be the first person to introduce the printing press into England.  As well as being a printer he is credited as the first retailer of books in England.  He was diplomat, merchant and a writer and the first book he is known to have produced was an edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

You can read about both of these pioneering men in Wikipedia.

To finish off my page I used the black and white pages I had been given to create the background, stuck pictures of Gutenberg and a sketch of Caxton's machine plus some typeface letters in a drawer, and then randomly cut out and stuck some letters and numbers on in colour to break up the monotony of the black and white.  Because the background was so busy I found the pictures got lost  and so I mounted them finding that two of them looked much better with a white mount around them than a black one.  Strange how we always go straight to black for mounting a picture.

Well, that really is it for today.  I did get carried away with my theme after my initially thinking I was stuck at six pages, so you got two today.

Art Journal Journey - Type in a Circle

 It suddenly occurred to me, late in the month, that I have lots of stamps with lots of script on them.  Most of them typed script, and so I set about looking for a stamp or stamps I could use to make a page for my theme at Art Journal Journey.

Straight away I went to my drawer with Tracy's stamps in for Aall & Create and found two with butterflies on which I could use.  Well, one is half of a butterfly.  (Through the Meadows and Seeds of Hope for the half butterfly).  So I began stamping on a found brayered page in my square Dylusion Journal.

I told you I could only brayer when under supervision, and I think this was one done with Kate Crane.  Well, it certainly does not look like one I produced myself, I am normally a lot heavier handed and don't get such a muted look.

I used one of Tracy's number stamps, not having a clue what I had used for the background I guessed that Picked Raspberry DO would look fine and it matched quite well.  There are numbers top right and bottom left.  Then I stamped the two chosen stamps  and stamped them again on a piece of white cardstock.  I cut out the circles with most 'type' in them and adhered them on top of the Journal stamped ones,

I noticed on the half butterfly on the left stamp that the postmarks were repeated from the other stamp but slightly larger so I cut those out too and adhered them on top of the small ones, bottom right.  Such a pity that my Glossy Accents is empty or I would have put some on some of the circles. Perhaps I will do that later when I get a new one.

To finish off I coloured my two main butterflies one with Picked Raspberry and the other with Scattered Straw, both to echo the colours in the background rather than actual butterfly colours.  Then I just stuck them down in the centre where the body is so that the wings can be lifted up and you can see the other image below.

So here we are, another page for my theme at Art Journal Journey.  I just hope I have not gone overboard with the number of posts but I have been enjoying myself.

Art Journal Journey - Types of Labels

You need look no further than advertising to find lots of lovely and interesting script.  There are so many types out there and the big fashion houses often have instantly recognisable labels for their product.  So many of them used to get us to advertise their products for free by giving us a carrier bag with their name emblazoned on the front (and back quite often).  Perhaps, with the prices they charge for their clothing, some of them still do.

Fashion magazines, such as Vogue, are full of advertisements for fashion, each sporting the name of the company involved, quite often, as the only words there.  I took just one copy of an old Vogue magazine and found all of these well known names in the fashion/beauty industry within its covers.  (You will notice I also put 'Harrods' in there, not as a fashion house but as a well known name and instantly recognisable style.)  

To begin with I had a double page in my square Dylusion Journal that I did not like so I painted over it in black.  I had gone through a magazine whilst I was away and cut various brand names out and stuck them together to fill a square page but then it had been left, awaiting inspiration with just a watered down coat of Gesso over the top of it..

I pondered how to do this, should I cut it corner to corner, how could I get it on the two pages?  Then I had the idea to simply cut it in half (I was against just pasting it across the centre because of the fold in the Journal) and to leave a gap down the centre.  That left me with spaces at either side to add something.  I tried various images, eventually deciding on these two.  So a bit of fussy cutting and they were fine, a reasonable size for the page.

It didn't look quite finished so I went to bed and slept on it with thoughts running through my head as to what words I could add to my page.  The next morning I just decided, no fancy lettering, just plain old me  writing with a white pen (they are so thick that I cannot do fancy lettering if I want it reasonably small) and so "Fashion" and "Labels" were scattered about the two sides.

I am sure I will use this page, alongside my cake icing book, when I want to do some different styles of lettering.  I like some of these "types"!  See you over at Art Journal Journey, hopefully with your ideas for the theme I chose - "type".

Jeudi Journal - Anxiety

My last Dylusion page this month where I am using different fonts - and so I tried to use one which took me a while to do.  I had to space it out to make sure I got all the words in on each line (almost a problem at times) and then I had to go over them to thicken them out and finally draw each one in pen and fill them in.  I really should start to study calligraphy and then I wouldn't have this 'hit and miss' approach to my lettering which takes so long.

Not much pictorially on this page because the lettering took up so much room.  Again to get it near perfect I should have ruled squares but I just don't have the time so I hope you accept my attempt.

As you can see, because she hates people I have given her some little insects in the hope she likes them at the very least.

There is no story this week, as it has been a case of getting the lettering done to coincide with the theme at Art Journal Journey, which is 'type' (hence the script I have used echoing some of the fonts that are available on some typewriters and on computers).  Normal service will be resumed next week but in the meantime I just leave you with my page and the lettering.

Art Journal Journey - Type a Name ...

... and the name is Marilyn, Marilyn Monroe. 

Since doing my Charlie Chaplin page in the early days I have been wanting to do something using Marilyn Monroe, and my Janet Klein images in particular.  Not only that but I sent for a Texture Fades folder which I had had my eye on for such a long time, and I wanted to use the letters from that also.  So how could I marry the two together?

First of all I had this page left abandoned when I had repeated it on another page, but in my large Dylusion Journal.  To cut down making a new background I decided to use it and began playing around with the Texture Fades folder.  I had several pieces of black cardstock that I had sprayed with water and run through the folder - that gave a really strong impression and when it dried the texture was almost like an egg box, holding its shape really well.  I got my waxes out and found a silver and a pewter one which I decided I wanted to use because I wanted them to resemble the keys that sit in the basket of a typewriter - the bits that pop up and hit the ribbon.

Next thing was to cut out the letters I wanted to spell out Marilyn's name.  Once that was done I had to play about deciding how to display them and thought of the shape of the basket on the typewriter and I tried to replicate that.  In the end I used a can on my desk to give me a circular shape and put the keys up to the edges of it, glued them down and waited for them to dry.  

I had an image of a typewriter, stamped, embossed and cut out so that became my centrepiece with a Marilyn either side.  Why use two Marilyns?  Simply because I could not decide which to use and which not.  I was sure that there is a scene or a photograph somewhere where she stands over a grid and the air is blowing her dress up, here's hoping my memory is correct in that the dress in question is white.

To complete my page I looked for some quotes from her and settled on the shortest one I could find, typed it out, printed it and inserted it under the bail bar of the typewriter.  It reads "We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle." And there you have it - my page for today - typewriter keys for the theme and a couple of types of images for Marilyn Monroe.  See you over at Art Journal Journey, maybe with your interpretation of 'type' or just to see what others have done.

WOYWW 638

It's Wednesday, it's WOYWW day and it's the first of two posts for me today.  I have another one publishing at five o'clock in the morning.  Yes, It's just gone midnight on the 25th and I've been up late blogging.  Must confess I fell asleep earlier in the evening which accounts for my being awake now.  Click on the link above if you want to know what the acronym means.  Then join us with your own posting.

Can I just extend a welcome to my newest blog follower, Sue.  I have tried to find your blog Sue but not been successful - if you let me know what it is, in the comments some time, I will pop by and see you.

Well, it's been a busy old month being guest designer for Art Journal Journey but I have thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I've never done so many journal pages and I have a couple left over that haven't got a slot so I am saving them in the hopes I can use them later.

My desk doesn't show much activity - rather an aftermath of what I have been up to.  The stickers on the left are some I thought I might use during the month for my theme which was "Type", they do look a bit like typewriter keys of old.  They are sitting on the top of my folder of Aall & Create stencils. Next we have some clear stamps, followed by some new red rubber from Stampers Anonymous.  I'd seen this particular stamp on Jo's blog and thought I just had to have it so Jo not only told me what the stamp was but where I could get it.

Next are some images that I haven't used plus some more sticker letters and then our landline phone.  Must have been expecting a call or had I just made one?   Behind the first letters are a couple of packs of dies - again for cutting out letters that I have used throughout the month, and my black folder which contains all the loose images normally.  Then there is my Mad Hatter beaker with my Ginger and Elderflower hot cordial drink in it.  The usual stuff is behind it all in the shelving.

The only other thing to tell you is that I tested Negative.  Yeah!  I was so convinced I would be as I had no symptoms whatsoever but it's nice to be told you are.  Probably the only time we all like to be called 'negative'.

So that's it for another week from me.  Nothing to show you although I did make a card for someone but forgot to take a photograph of it.  I was just too busy enjoying my blogging.  Hopefully see you all next week.  Stay safe and be happy, Nitey Nite!

Art Journal Journey - Type of Spectacles?

 I think I did this page directly with a stencil and then was not that keen on what I had achieved apart from a section at the top of the page and so I went all over it with Twisted Citron Distress ink.  I had in mind to use a stencil which I do like but rarely use, it's a take on the eye test letters you have to name for the optician when having an eye test.  It's not the same letters as the test I normally take as I am sure the letter "H" is always at the top.  I may be wrong here!  Anyway, that was my starting point, I just brushed Hickory Smoke Distress Ink through the stencil, top right. There are also numbers down either side of the stencil so I used one strip of them down the left side of the page.

Then began the search for pictures of women wearing glasses.  A while ago I bought lots of Vogue magazines from someone with the sole purpose of journaling with them.  Slowly I have thrown some of them out but a flip through two of them revealed lots of sunglasses but only one pair of clear lenses.  Another two magazines and I found some ordinary glasses, or should I say spectacles although one pair (bottom left) look suspiciously as if they have suspenders hanging from them.  Fashion shoots!  Anyway, lots of fussy cutting kept me quiet for a short while.

To complete the page I used a die alphabet that looks like typewriter keys - you get double letters here because the centres drop out and you have another letter so I used the drop out ones at the top and the circular ones below.  

To finish off I used a stamp of a pair of spectacles to make a kind of border wherever there was a gap.  This was a stamp on a new set, just arrived, from Aall & Create again - a cutie set of little boys heads from the Janet Klein ones.

So there you have it, not really a question as most are sunglasses but maybe the shape of the frames would interest you, or not!  See you over on Art Journal Journey with my theme of 'type' - I'd love you to join in with your interpretation of 'Type".

Art Journal Journey - Typewriters of Old

I made myself a grungy page by accident.  I am sure I have owned up to the fact that I am not very good at brayering, in fact I would say I am pretty hopeless.  A good page comes out very rarely and is usually under supervision when it does.

This page is brayered, is very grungy and I haven't a clue what colours of paint I put on it.  Each new layer was to try to make it look better so I ended up with brown.   I won't say "mud" because I think it is better than mud and parts of it look kind of rusty.  I then put some large letters over the top with a brown ink.

Anyway, stuck with it I decided to use it and when I saw one of Jo's pages I loved the typewriter keys she had on it and she very kindly told me where to get the stamp from.  Thanks Jo - I love this set.  It shows where you put your hands when typing, with your thumb acting for the space bar, dividing it up into left and right hand.  I once taught keyboard skills at school and had a one armed boy opt for the subject to examination level.  Everyone tried to persuade him not to take the subject but he did and he managed quite well with special instructions for a one handed typist.

Also on the set are the letters of the alphabet, each one typed out five times to look as if they have been typed by a manual machine where the ribbon has clogged up the centre of some of the keys.  I used to have something like Blutack that I rolled around the keys to lift the ink that had settled but quite often I had to pick it out with a pin.  Funnily enough I enjoyed doing this.  Am I strange?  Anyway, you can see these letters down the bottom right hand corner and top left.

Friends had once again sent me some images and the top left and right are what were sent to me.  I think the left one looks very old but the advertisement for the right one sounds older with its eighty keys!  The final one is a Lou Collins stamp.  One perfect half of a typewriter and one in silhouette.  Both come with a background that fits around them but I chose to just fussy cut the typewriters out.

So that is it for my page for Art Journal Journey and my theme of 'type'.  During my research however I did see some very peculiar machines.

The first commercial typewriter - with a foot pedal!  Looks rather like the old fashioned treadle sewing machines.

1852 John Jones Mechanical Typewriter

1870 Hansen Writing Ball

Reproduction of the 1861 Father Francisco Jaäo De Azevedo, a Brazilian Priest's typewriter, made of wood and knives.

I am just so glad that we do not have to try to type on something like any of these machines today.

Art Journal Journey - Types of Marks

I have actually called this page "Make Your Mark" and I tried to show various ways in which you can make marks when corresponding with someone.  I made this page way back at the beginning of the month in my square Dylusion Journal, and, funnily enough, two days ago, Chris did an excellent  page where she reminded us of how we often put off writing, either correspondence or that book we intended writing long ago.

I had a tag sent to me a long time ago with the ink bottles on it with some dictionary page tucked behind so I tore that bit off (I did ask the friend if she minded) and then began looking for other things that would mix in with the bottles.  I had this set of three pens, the two pencils, another ink bottle and a hand obviously writing.  All of these were gathered together and later stamped on the page using Black Versafine Ink.

Later I found an image of a wax seal stamp, some postmarks and another ink bottle - that filled my page up and so I just wrote "make your" and added some domed stickers for the word "mark".

To finish off the page and link in with typewriters I found some pictures of old tins that had held the typewriter ribbons.  I remember them being black and red with the red hardly ever getting used and my asking the company purchaser if we could have some all black ones in future.

I hope this  has given you another idea of my interpretation of "Type" for my theme at Art Journal Journey.

Art Journal Journey - Type of Advertisement

I love the old days - not that I am THAT old that I remember either Victorian, Edwardian or the Roaring Twenties but they are three of my favourite periods both for dramas and the fashions that the ladies wore.  So not surprisingly I enjoyed this page in my Journal showing an Edwardian lady and a bit of Edwardian fashion along with the elegant scrolls on the advertisements especially the Parisian one.

My page began as an awful attempt by me at creating a well brayered page - not so, so I decided that the best thing was to cover it with some scrapbook paper.  As the paper was not quite the same size as my square journal I painted a small border in black and then stuck the paper down.  I love corrugated card and so I put a piece of it on some black cardstock and then stamped the lady on card coloured with Antique Linen Distress Ink.  I like a torn edge so I tore around the figure rather than fussy cut her out as she had text behind her, and put her on the corrugated card and added some cream lace to the side.

I have lots of advertisements in my stash and I chose these three.  The top two because I love the script and the bottom one because I love the thought of those buttoned boots.  Not sure I would have enjoyed buttoning them up with those hooks they used.  I realised after stamping the images on Antique Linen coloured cardstock that the boots had a white front so I restamped the boot, cut it out and placed it over the cream one.  My final act was to include three pearl buttons.

So there you have my page, this time in my square journal, showing some types of advertising.  I would love to do one with Neon signs on but think I am fast running out of time.  We will see.  This is my latest entry into my theme of "Type" at Art Journal Journey - would love to see you there with your idea.

Jeudi Journal - Receipt

This week we have a blue page, it again has an Aall & Create stencil on it - the first time I used this one I fell in love with it.  Again I tried a different font from my cake icing book.  You can be forgiven if you think it is the one I have been using for several weeks but if you look closely you will see there is a difference.  I chose this one as there are rather a lot of words to be used in the quote and it lends itself to being written small..

Oh dear, it looks as if we don't have happy faces on the page this week.  

"Angelica, opened her door to the sound of the door bell and found Esme standing there ringing her hands as if in despair.  What a sorry sight she looked, her hair was in rollers, and, despite the warm balmy day, she had a huge coat on.

"What's the matter?" asked Angelica, faking a concerned look on her face.  "Is there something wrong Esme?" she asked.

"Everything has gone wrong" replied Esme, as she started to reel off a number of things that had gone wrong.  "I wondered if you could help me" she continued.

Well, Angelica had had enough of the stories she had put up with over the past two years from Esme, she had found out on a number of occasions that it was all a case of attention seeking on Esme's part.  Lots of their friends were taken in by it and all felt so sorry for Esme but Angelica knew that this was a ruse for 'tea and sympathy' and she had had enough.  She'd thought about it a great deal over the past week or so and decided that come hell or high water she was going to let Esme know that she was no longer prepared to accept all this acting.

"Nope, I checked my receipt," she said, "I didn't order any of your bull" and with that she closed the door.  Enough's enough she said to herself as she walked into the kitchen and put the kettle on."

As mentioned at the beginning I am using a different type of lettering so that I can enter this into Art Journal Journey where the theme is "Type".  See you there!

WOYWW 637

It's actually Tuesday evening and I am writing this because I'm sleeping quite late in a morning whilst up here on the edge of The Lakes.  Must be the sea air, outdoor life or something.  At least I can link as soon as I waken.

As you can see from my posts below this one I have been busy posting for my GD spot on Art Journal Journey.  It was dear Elizabeth, of Altered Book Lover fame, who first asked me to do the GD spot, whom such a lot of you know from way back.  She and Bleubeard have been on woyww from the old days and that is where I first met up with them.

Well, I've been pinged!  My neighbour up here, Sue, has contracted Covid-19.  She messaged me yesterday to let me know she had tested positive on a home test and had gone for a PCR at the Covid Centre.  It has come back positive.  Luckily she only has headache up to now.  My home test showed negative and I am doing another later today - fingers crossed.  As I fell into the 'extremely vulnerable' category I am keeping everything crossed at the moment.

I can't afford to be ill as I have this month to finish with my Journal pages.  Luckily I have several ready so I think I had better get on and do the write ups so that all I have to do is link them on the appointed days.

My bags are packed ready to go home and this is the coffee table in the lounge tonight with my stuff ready for the car.  I don't really want to go home as I love it up here but I guess I had better until I know what is happening.

Hopefully see you next week on here with my desk at home, and me bright and cheerful and Covid free.

The brown bag at the top stays here, underneath is my large journal which is what I mainly work in, my box of stamps (not used any of them), a Vogue magazine and then a box with my Janet Klein images in (not used them either).  Just peeking out behind is y green folder with all my stencils in and y smaller square journal on top.  You can see a copy of the TV magazine just peeking out to the right of my pile of stuff.

Just remembered I have a card that I made for my niece's eldest boy (7) last weekend - using Janet Klein stamps again.

I didn't intend to stand it on this pan stand of mine but it was so appropriate with the fish on wasn't it.  He was the great grandson of my cousin whose funeral we went to.   That is Jackson doing the fishing whilst his younger brother, Theo looks on with the dog, Harry (who does not look like that at all being a Shitzu).

Toodle pip!

Art Journal Journey - What Type?

 Something a bit different to what I have done before this month, or is it?  Well today I am asking you to solve a mystery.  A Whodunnit!  I have a "thing" about the drawings of Brett Wilder for Stampers Anonymous - 'Steampunk Selfies', 'The Music Man' and  'Ships Captain' being my favourites.  It all started with a collaboration between Tim and Brett and a stamp called 'The Chemist'.  I just loved the way the figure was drawn and when I saw more of them I knew I wanted to own them.

For my page today I used Distress Inks, again in Tea Dye to begin with and then using a second layer of it and some Vintage Photo and Walnut Ink in places through the Alphabet Spaghetti stencil by Andy Skinner.

The four men were just stamped in Black Versafine Claire on white cardstock and fussy cut.  I played about a bit with the layout of the figures and finally settled on them as points of a compass - N, S, E and W.  The next thing was to die cut some letters and so I used an old Spellbinders set (I think it is called Vintage) - using the circular letters to spell "WHO?" and the centres of the letters to spell "DUNNIT" although you will notice that the final letter "T" is larger than the others - it came from a different set as it represents seeing it through a magnifying glass.

"A man has been stalking the streets of London, it is the year 1892, and he has evaded arrest for the past year and a bit.  London is filthy with its choking fog - the Thames is thick with human sewage and its streets are covered in horse dung on account of the number of horses being used as transport on the streets.   The East End has been the scene of brutal murders, all of the victims being prostitutes."

The police have been unable to solve the murders, scientists and experts over the years have been baffled by these killings - can YOU solve the murder.  Was it one of the men on my page?  Who do you think has done it?  Is it North, South, East or West?

I'd love you to join us over at Art Journal Journey and join in with my theme 'Type'.  There are lots of ways you can go with the word - why not give it a try.  See you there.

Art Journey Journey - Another Type - Illuminated Lettering

I am intrigued by the Illuminated Lettering of Western Europe.  It's a type of lettering that really interests me.  I would just be content if I could do the other writing that they do but to do the tiny paintings that are based around a letter and the decorative borders just blows my mind.  It was usually the first letter of a page that was enlarged and in colour, enhanced with gold and would include animals, plants and mythological creatures.

Illuminated Manuscripts were hand-made books produced in Western Europe between 500 - 1600 CE.  with monasteries as their earliest creators.  The use of gold and silver "lighting up" the page gave way to the name Illuminated Lettering/Manuscripts and the pages were made from animal skin, eg calf, sheep, goat.  The most popular type  of illuminated manuscript was the "Book of Hours" which was comprised of Christian Prayers to be said at certain times throughout the day.

Take this letter 'T' as an example.  The letter itself is fairly simple in shape but the intricate drawing within it and the beautiful natural forms that surround it and go down the side and across the base are so beautifully drawn.  I just imagine some ancient monk sat in a tiny bare room making this beautiful work.  If you look closely you can see there are also some very finely drawn brown lines down the left hand side.

Another beautiful example is this one which is rather more pictorial and I imagine tells a story.  Even some of the letters in the body of the page are illuminated.  I wonder if the figures are saints?

I don't want to swamp you with pictures of illuminated lettering but I have to include one of my favourites.  It's a cropped picture of "The Funeral of Raymond Diocrès".   Diocrès, who was a professor at the University of Paris, is known for a miracle that happened at his funeral where he returned to life briefly, in order to swear to the assembly that God had judged and condemned his soul.   I know it misses the illuminated lettering but the window is just so beautiful and the drawings superb.  

What magnificent artists they were all those years ago.

My page was first coloured a light to mid brown using Antique Linen and Vintage Photo applied with a cosmetic brush.  I then photocopied the letter "A", coloured it with my Promarkers and fussy cut it out.  Yes, I cut the whole thing out - I must have been crazy to start.  I then glued it in the centre of my page.  Why!  I think I was afraid of it getting torn if it was left lying around.

I had chosen a few pieces of illuminated text that I liked and made small copies of them for my page but placing them in different positions I settled on just two - a "b" and what could be mistaken for a "c" (not sure what it is really).  That made it "ABC" in my reckoning - artistic licence at large here.

After that I did not know what to do so I began searching through the books Lorraine had loaned me.  Most of the letters were too decorative for me to copy.  Yes I could trace them but that would not have been the right thing to do imo.  Plus they were so intricate it would have taken hours.  In the end I settled for the word "Illuminated" comprised of eleven letters simply drawn and so I photocopied them, coloured them in with my Promarkers again, and stuck them across the top of the page.  

I then photocopied some of the text from various pieces and tore them up into random shapes which I used to fill in the blank spaces left on the page.  And so it was finished.  I would have loved to have had the skill and time to do that writing myself with an italic nib on a pen - maybe it is something I can try later in a book solely for the purpose of trying out different scripts.

I hope this has shown another way to look at the theme I chose at Art Journal Journey which as you know by now is "Type".  This is another type of lettering and is also a mark/symbol made on a page.  I hope you can join in with my theme at Art Journal Journey with your own interpretation of 'type'.

Jeudi Journal - Naughty

Another Dylusion Journal challenge I do with Wendy.  This time I had to think how could I link it differently to my last one so that I could also link it to Art Journal Journey where I have chosen the theme 'Type'.  Again I chose to use 'fonts' as my link to 'type', and again it was a font I chose from my cake icing book.  I have never used this one before and judging by the size of the letters in the book  I needed a short quote.

I needed to draw some lines to try to get my letters more or less the same size, but to be exact you really need to use squared paper, not possible here so mine was just four lines for each word.  As I told you last week, I love looking at calligraphy and would love to be able to do it but I just do not have the patience to practice.  This was an easy alphabet to use but I needed to use a ruler for the straight uprights on the capital (uc) letters.  You will notice that the final word has had to be split into two - I wondered if that was possible so I checked some of the work by one of my favourite Dylusion artists, Miranda van den Bosch, and she does do just what I have done - which is why I went ahead with it,

A big mistake I made was doing the background with Pan Pastels (chalks).  Nice and quick, and I was in a hurry to get some backgrounds done at the time so just went ahead with them - not good when you need to rule lines for the lettering - the background gets erased when you come to get rid of your lines.   Doh!  I still am the 'original dizzy blonde' even though the blonde is turning grey.  Anyway, my story:

"Sarah and Sammy are brother and sister and that is about how far it goes - they are like chalk and cheese.  Their mum tears her hair out at times at some of the things Sammy gets up to, she is so thankful that Sarah is nothing like him and quite a good little helper around the house.

The weather has been unusually sunny of late and Sammy has been playing out with his cricket bat and ball.  Mum had told him not to play with that ball, which was quite hard, near the houses, but Sammy being Sammy did not listen.  Off he had gone and done everything he shouldn't when "CRASH" - yes, the inevitable happened, the ball went through the window. 

Sarah rushed outside and sure enough, there was a gaping hole in one of the panes of the window. 

"What have you done?" she asked,  "Mum told you not to play with that hard ball,  you were supposed to use the foam one.  You are going to be in so much trouble."

"I didn't do it on purpose" said Sammy, "I was just playing cricket on my own and I hit a six but the window got in the way."

"Oh" shouted Sarah, "You do my head in, do you ever use your brain, you are so stupid at times"

"Hell Yeah, I've been naughty" said Sammy with a silly grin on his face.  He knew full well that mum would not punish him too badly, maybe just send him to bed early.  That didn't worry Sammy, he could always play on his iPad if he was banished upstairs."

That's it for this week's Jeudi Journal page, see you over on Art Journal Journey to see what others have done.

WOYWW 636

 Well, here we are again,   Another week, another Wednesday, another WOYWW.  Pop over here to see what I am on about if you don't know.

Yesterday I was at my cousin's funeral - a sad day for me as I am now the oldest member of the family left standing.  Not that it was ever a big family but saying goodbye yesterday was particularly sad for me.  I'd lost the only contact I had with my childhood.  Last week we took ourselves off to Kirby Lonsdale, a place he used to visit with his wife on his way to see his sister in law, in Barrow.    She and I had been the two bridesmaids at his wedding.  Because it was somewhere we used to talk about, and he knew so much more about it than I did, I decided to go and place two roses, one from each of us, at Ruskin's View.

It was strange really because there was ivy, ever so tiny, growing around this corner post at the view where everyone sits and looks out.  Ideal, as I was able to place the roses down through the trailing vine.  It was as if it was meant to be.

Anyway, you've come here to see my desk and not me waffling on about my being sad etc.

Well, if you look back in my blog you will see I have been really busy doing as many Journal pages as I could for the theme I chose which was "Type".  In fact I meant to post one page on here but my head was not working and I posted it yesterday instead.  Still busy preparing more pages, I want to do them until the end of the month at short intervals.  

You can see my page open at a grungy background with some letters stencilled on - not a clue what I am doing with it, where I am going.  The two books you can see are about illuminated lettering that a friend loaned me for some ideas.  Then there's my small brush roll, I was painting something last night, and then my travelling kit which consists of a green folder full of Aall & Create stencils and a box underneath containing stamps, washi tape etc.  The rest on the wall you know about because it rarely changes and if i did have a change I would show you.

So that's it for this week, a bit late as my head did not work last night and I did not know it was Wednesday when I woke up.  See you over at WOYWW.

Art Journal Journey - Type

This is another of my inspiration pages for 'Type' over at Art Journal Journey and I must confess I was inspired by a tag my friend Lorraine sent to me.  She actually said I could use her tag on my page but rather than do that I used her page for inspiration - and her stencil for the background.  The stencil is Alphabet Spaghetti by Andy Skinner and I have no idea why I had never bought it as Andy has always been someone I have admired and looked up to.  Hence I have quite a few of his stamps and stencils - and now this one too as I just had to buy it.

I used Scattered Straw and Hickory Smoke through the stencil in parts all over my page in my large Dylusion Journal.  The typewriter top left is by Bipasha and the letters and numbers by Tracy - both from Aal & Create, as is the washi tape.

The bottom typewriter is a die-cut that Lorraine gifted me (along with lots of things not yet used).

I hope this inspires you to join in with my theme over at Art Journal Journey where you will get a warm welcome.

Art Journal Journey - Types of Cocktails

When I was in college learning to type I always enjoyed using different fonts and changing the sizes of lettering.  Display work was always a favourite thing for me to do and I took great delight in making the most of things like advertisements and menus.

Years later when I began teaching Commerce one of the Units I had to teach was Advertising and I just loved when it came around to that time of the year when I had to deal with that subject.  Powerpoint was a favourite program of mine and I enjoyed using it to do presentations but still enjoyed my typing on both a typewriter and a computer.  Later I found the ability to use Powerpoint a good tool for talking to parents at school about Options, Work Experience and Career Prospects which was part of my additional teaching post at school.

So when I chose 'Type' as my theme for Art Journal Journey I knew I had to include some display work.  Now not really being much of an alcoholic drinker, except the occasional gin and tonic, and I do mean occasional, I thought about looking at some cocktails.  So here is my page dealing with them:

The pink drink on the right was on a card, along with the word "cocktails" that a friend of mine sent to me.  I did like the way she had done the card so it always stood in my craft room, little did I know months ago that it would be useful in my Journal.  Now I have no fear of losing it and remembering the card that Heather sent to me.  The other images are from a set of stamps that another friend, Jayne, loaned to me for the purpose of this page.

I must confess the only cocktail I have had is a Margarita and that was when I was first introduced to Mexican Cuisine by my late friend in America.  I had heard of a Bellini, in fact I went into Harry's Bar where they were made famous in Venice, but only had a coffee early one morning.  

I had to look up the ingredients of all of these cocktails but enjoyed myself changing the fonts and using the 'centre' command.

I hope this has given you another idea of how you can do the theme of 'type' and enter into the challenge over on Art Journal Journey.  I'd love to see you there.

Art Journal Journey - Type

 This was the first journal page I did for my guest designer spot at Art Journal Journey and I was quite excited about it.  I just love those little figures by Janet Klein and Charlie Chaplin was a firm favourite from the minute I saw she had drawn him.  Today is also my partner's birthday, and as he is called Charles (but prefers to be known as Chas) it seemed appropriate that I used this one today.

Luckily I remembered I had a stencil with some figures of him in a film strip and so I decided to base it around that and use a typewriter diecut that I had had for several years.  Now I am going back a while - to 21st May 2013 in fact, when I decided to launch something/somebody called "Flat Susan".  

It all started with a friend's daughter in America asking if I would host "Flat Stanley" for a school project she was doing.  Following the many trips I took with Stanley I decided I would launch Flat Susan.  Lots of people on here got involved and Flat Susan (who was a shrink plastic doll in a matchbox) journeyed all over the place.  You can read about her on my old blog which marks the first of her journeys.

Now, you may wonder what on earth this has to do with Charlie Chaplin.  The answer is "nothing really". but the typewriter depicted on this page was a thank you note sent to me by Bella (Belinda Basson) who lived in South Africa at the time.  I didn't want to spoil it by tearing off the top page of the diecut card so I stuck the whole thing down.  Now I have a reminder of Bella every time I look at this page.  Bella now lives in Germany and makes the most wonderful art, being a designer for Stamperia as well, some of you may well know her.

To begin with I masked the top of my page off and painted the lower section with grey paint.  I then darkened the paint slightly and stencilled some stars from an Aall & Create stencil on the page.  Next I used the Chaplin stencil (cannot tell you what it is called or who it is by) with some black paint through it before adding my figure and piece of Tim Holtz films strip.

So there you have it.  My next page for the theme Type, this time with a typewriter again featuring strongly.  I love how Charlie Chaplin is perched on the platen there.  I hope this inspires you to join in with my theme over on Art Journal Journey.  See you there?

Jeudi Journal - The World

At first when I saw this quote I was being asked to use for my Jeudi Journal with Wendy I thought of that film where James Cagney died on a gas storage tank saying "Made it Ma.  Top of the world!"  Obviously I was not going to do anything like that as the quote I was to use was "One day I will rule the world, until then I'm going to bed" but do you see why my mind went to this film?

My page began life covered with Pan Pastels in a yellow ochre kind of colour with a lilac stencil over the top.  Very faint colour, I must add, to depict worn wallpaper.  I made a window from a piece of navy card, put a brown frame around it and added a clip art (free) image of the world and some metallic stars. I then cut some curtains from lilac cardstock and added my girl.

"Donna had been to see her Great Gran.  She loved visiting the old lady and looking through her various boxes of treasure.  The old jewellery was a favourite of Donnas as she was allowed to try some of the pieces on and dance around with the paste stones glinting in the light.  Gran had been quite a looker in her day and had some of the most incredible earrings that jangled around Donna's neck as she danced and twirled.

They had enjoyed a lovely Victoria Sandwich that Donna's mum had brought along and Great Gran had bought some crumpets for them to toast.  All this was whilst they listened to Harry Secombe singing "If I Ruled the World", one of Great Grans favourites.

"If I ruled the world, Every day would be the first day of Spring, Every heart would have a new song to sing, And we'd sing the joy every morning would bring".  The words were echoed in a voice that had once been true but now had a slight tremble to it and Donna was filled with love for the old lady.

Donna often joined in, now almost knowing the words to the whole song having listened to it so many times, singing along "My world would be a beautiful place, Where we would weave such wonderful dreams, My world would wear a smile on its face, Like the man in the moon has when the moon beams".

Turning to her Great Gran she said that one day, she would make sure the world was a lovely place to live in, where everyone was happy and loved everyone else, where there was no hatred or pain.  One day, when she was Queen.....

That night, when Donna went to bed, she stared out and imagined she saw the world outside her window, humming the song in her head.  "One day I will rule the world, until then I'm going to bed" she said, as she closed her curtains."

Because I wanted this to fit in with Art Journal Journey's theme of "Type" I decided I would try a different kind/type of lettering and so this rather dominates the page today.  I have often thought I would like to try my hand at calligraphy but I just don't have the patience these days to spend hours practising the strokes so I tend to use my cake icing book and bluff my way through some of the fonts there.  I think all my Jeudi Journals will feature a different type of lettering (or font) this month.  Next week, in my Jeudi Journal, you will notice a real difference.

WOYWW 635

 August already, before we know what is happening we will have Christmas things all over the shops.  With a bit of luck we will have Halloween and Fireworks before then but I wouldn't hold my breath on Christmas not featuring soon.  Today is the 635th edition of WOYWW and I am sure most of you know what the acronym stands for but if you don't pop along here and all will be revealed.

Talking about revealing things, at last I can tell you why I have had nothing to show you on my desk of late.  I was asked by Elizabeth (who lots of you know), to be guest designer on the blog, Art Journal Journey, she runs with some other people (Chris of Pearshapedchris being one who also posts on here).  So I was getting several journal pages done in readiness for the month of August.

If you look carefully at my desk you can see I am still in the throes of making journal pages but you will notice I have left my journals open at the pages that have already been published here and here.  The theme I chose was "Type" which I linked to a typewriter and the various fonts you can get when using one and, of course, a computer. I am fascinated by fonts - and wish I had learned how to do calligraphy like our dear Shaz in Oz.  Just haven't the patience these days, or the time.

You will notice I have plonked my folder of Aall & Create stencils over one of the pages in my journal - that is one that has not yet been published.  I have dragged my trusty Vagabond out for a bit of serious die-cutting and dry embossing.  I treated myself to one of those 3D Texture Fades Folders of Tim Holtz' and boy oh boy does it emboss.  I can see my buying more of these and maybe using them a bit more than my old embossing folders which I forget about all the time.  I'll be using the letters I embossed on one of my journal pages before long.

My bff, Lorraine, came out trumps and visited me with lots of goodies that she felt I could probably use in my journal this coming month, along with a couple of ideas for layouts in my pages.  That's what friends are for!  At the moment I am looking for an old manual typewriter (at the right price) but persuading my other half to go to a car boot sale is not happening at the moment.  

Nothing else happening on my desk, the weather up north is a bit mixed so it has not really been sitting out weather but I think today is going to be a 'tidy up session' in the garden.  I noticed one or two patches that needed a bit of tidying and some of the plants have gone a bit rogue and multiplied.  Our gardener who kept our back lawn nicely cut has moved to Ireland and his son, who has taken over, was not well the other week so I am not sure what is going to be happening - the lawn is huge!  And growing!

Guess I had better sign off now and get my back brace on to see if I can manage a bit out there.  Have a lovely week and stay safe and well.

Art Journal Journey - Type of Letter

Now when you look at this page you probably wonder where the word "Type" fits in.  Well I have used the page to portray a love letter from a man to a lady he has taken quite a fancy to.  

As we all know a letter is a way of communicating between one person and another or a group of people, and there are various forms of letter; formal, semi-formal or informal.  A letter can be hand-written or printed but the gentleman in my journal has put pen to paper for his letter.  I wonder if he scented the paper before he put it inside the letter, maybe he put some rose petals inside before he sent it, or a piece of lavender.

Either way he is communicating, rather boldly, with the lady in the photograph, declaring his feelings for her.  I well imagine her uttering to herself "be still my beating heart" as in the romantic novels of old.  The letter reads:

"Dear Miss Jones

I hope you will forgive me for presuming to write to you without permission for I assure you it is with reluctance I take up my pen.  But I feel that I must reveal to you my feelings and my hopes.  Trusting that my intentions have, in a measure, prepared you for a demonstration of some kind as regards the future. I now throw myself at your feet and ask your love!  If I know my own heart it has an unalterable affection ...."

Oh dear, I wonder what followed?  Perhaps you can write the ending yourself.

I began by colouring the page in my large Dylusion Journal with two shades of Brown Distress Ink, stamped some leaf and berry images on the page along with some script.  Then I tore a page from an old book, but I haven't a clue what it says, I do hope it is nothing rude, but doubt it as it has those pretty flowers and a book at the top.  I found an old postcard in my stash advertising something, perhaps a portrait painter?

I then typed out the letter and made an envelope for it, aged both with Distress Ink Old Paper and added two photographs, probably Tim Holtz ones.  A pocket watch filled with Glossy Accents and a tiny sprig of flowers completed the look.

So there you have it 'a type of letter' for my theme at Art Journal Journey.  I must admit this idea was taken from a layout that my bff once did, she is a treasure.  I hope this has given you an idea on how you can have 'type' without a 'typewriter'.   Hope to see you there with your entry.

BTW:  I hope I did not mislead you on Sunday when I said I had typed at 90 wpm - that was a while ago and I am afraid my typos rather cancel out a lot of wpm these days.  I'm probably about half of that, if I am lucky.  It's not the same on a flat keyboard - I want a typewriter! (smile)

Art Journal Journey - Type

Hi Everyone!   I am absolutely thrilled to be hosting the theme for Art Journal Journey for this month.  This is my first time as a Guest Designer and I would like to thank Elizabeth and Bleubeard from Altered Book Lover for inviting me along.

For my theme I chose "Type" because I have a fascination with the typed word, or rather the patterns people make when they do "fancy writing" using the various fonts on a typewriter, or, as we use nowadays, the computer.

When I first left school I trained as a shorthand typist and as time went on I  became secretary to the Production Manager of a large company.  From the beginning I loved typing and worked hard at the exercises given to me by my teacher until I eventually could type at over 90 words per minute.  Not as grand as it sounds as some people type at 150 wpm.

Today my journal page is traditional containing two of my favourite things, rubber stamping and some stenciling - plus I love colouring although I am no colourist.

All images are rubber stamped on a reverse image stencil with some stamped words and numbers.  The flower and flamingo images are by Aall & Create, a favourite company of mine.  The typewriter image was stamped and embossed and the flowers were coloured using Inktense Pencils.  The letters spelling  'TYPE' are diecuts from a very old Spellbinders set but I thought they looked like the typewriter keys on the old machines.

I would love you to join me at Art Journal Journey during the month of August - the word 'type' does not have to include a typewriter or anything to do with the machine.  If you look in a dictionary it will tell you 

n person thing or event serving as an illustration symbol or specimen, a letter or other character used in printing: collection or fount of this; execute on or use a typewriter."

Remember also it can be used as both a verb as in "he typed the words ..." and a noun "they produced the type of perfume she loved".  Hopefully that will give you some more ideas.  See you there?